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I want to revert to 3.5

  • 110 replies
  • 1449 have this problem
  • 18 views
  • Last reply by MeadowMuffin

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I'm not happy with the new Firefox, which I think is 4.0. It's far too complicated. I just want to go back to 3.5 version. I think it's called 3.5. How do I do it?

I'm not happy with the new Firefox, which I think is 4.0. It's far too complicated. I just want to go back to 3.5 version. I think it's called 3.5. How do I do it?

Chosen solution

I strongly advise against going back to Firefox 3.5, when you installed Firefox 4 it made changes to a couple of files that store user data, those files will no longer work in Firefox 3.5. If you go back to Firefox 3.5 the files containing bookmarks, history and cookies will be lost, causing you to lose all history and cookies, with bookmarks being restored from a backup.

If you want to downgrade it would be better going to Firefox 3.6.15.

To downgrade to Firefox 3.6.* you can uninstall Firefox 4, but do not select the option to "Remove my Firefox personal data". If you select that option it will delete your bookmarks, passwords and other user data.

You can then install Firefox 3.6.* available from http://www.mozilla.com - it will automatically use your current bookmarks, passwords etc.

To avoid possible problems with downgrading, I recommend going to your profile folder and deleting the following files if they exist - extensions.cache, extensions.rdf, extensions.ini, extensions.sqlite and localstore.rdf. Deleting these files will force Firefox to rebuild the list of installed extensions, checking their compatibility, and reset toolbar customizations.

For details of how to find your profile folder see https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Profiles

Read this answer in context 👍 99

All Replies (20)

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Chosen Solution

I strongly advise against going back to Firefox 3.5, when you installed Firefox 4 it made changes to a couple of files that store user data, those files will no longer work in Firefox 3.5. If you go back to Firefox 3.5 the files containing bookmarks, history and cookies will be lost, causing you to lose all history and cookies, with bookmarks being restored from a backup.

If you want to downgrade it would be better going to Firefox 3.6.15.

To downgrade to Firefox 3.6.* you can uninstall Firefox 4, but do not select the option to "Remove my Firefox personal data". If you select that option it will delete your bookmarks, passwords and other user data.

You can then install Firefox 3.6.* available from http://www.mozilla.com - it will automatically use your current bookmarks, passwords etc.

To avoid possible problems with downgrading, I recommend going to your profile folder and deleting the following files if they exist - extensions.cache, extensions.rdf, extensions.ini, extensions.sqlite and localstore.rdf. Deleting these files will force Firefox to rebuild the list of installed extensions, checking their compatibility, and reset toolbar customizations.

For details of how to find your profile folder see https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Profiles

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If you strongly advise against this process, why has Firefox 4 deteriorated my online experience? It looks nice, but I have lost the ability to refresh my page. That impedes my posting ability in Facebook. It hamstrings just about anything I want to do online. Can you tell me why I'm having this problem, so I don't have to take all the difficult directions you're giving?

Please respond to me.

Stephen Winbaum

Modified by StephenWinbaum

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I had some strange problems as-well, but created a new profile after upgrading to Firefox 4 and it solved everything.

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It's not just Facebook. That's just an example. I cannot refresh any page on any website.

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Anyways, you'll be glad to know that I found the refresh button. I really love the 4.0 experience. I can surf incredibly better than on 3.5. Merci, Tony.

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I'm also having problems--can't adjust the navigation toolbar and the google toolbar doesn't work any more. Can't afford the time to futz. will have to use system restore i think

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Where on Mozilla can I download version 3.6? I installed version 4.0 on another laptop and hate it. I want to install the version I had but I cannot find it anywhere on the site. On your previous post you said go to www.mozilla.com to download it but everywhere on the site has the new version. Please can you help as this is costing me so much time and I'm getting really frustrated! Thanks in advance.

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I'm having the same problem. Hope you get an answer cause I can't find 3.6 download anywhere.

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I'm at work now but I'll try to help when I get back to my personal home computer. Firefox 4 is great. Way better than 3.5. The appearance is difference and that's what threw me off. Back later...

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I just recently upgraded to version 4.0 and absolutely hate it!!!!!!!!!! I lost all of my user profiles that I was using, it makes it extremely difficult to get anything done. I've tried to follow the tutorial for profile manager however the -profile manager does not exist on my machine. Any help is appreciated, I absolutely hate the idea of having to download GM, ALL of my add ons, and bookmarks, etc. This is absolutely the WORST thing Mozilla could've done to the end user.

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when going to the home page first thing it tells you is that it is incredibly fast. THIS IS NOT TRUE! when i was using 3.6 my pages loaded 3 times faster than 4.0 then there is the issue with my add-ons. i use nortons and my nortons toolbar is not compatible with this version of firefox. why would you build something and put it out there for people to use, when in my opinion is a step down. was a serious waste of time and now i have to go back to what wasn't broke. i should have known, if it sounds good it probly isn't.

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mlwalker: uninstall 4.0 and go back to 3.6. the instructions are above.

Modified by tagged1963

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Ok, I did a system restore for yesterday, but my profile manager that pops up still does not work properly. I used to be able to click on the FF icon on my desktop, I'd get the profile manager popup and I could pick which one I wanted to use. Now, when I click the icon, FF opens in a web page already logged into the page that I'm currently on. How can I fix this??? We need some developers reading these comments and offering some help. The end user is NOT happy, what a step down FF has taken. And the application is much slower than what I was using. I'll be telling everyone that I know to NOT upgrade. What a huge disappointment.

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Will the uninstall/reinstall of a previous version get my profiles working the way they did? That is my primary concern, I must have those back. My work is dependent on it.

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That's fine ... I uninstalled 4.0 but nowt I can't find 3.6 to download ... just to upgrade to . I cna't find anything to download but 4.0 and it's a mess ... incompatible with add ons that I need. It's really a ridiculous that you get the notice about how all your addons have been disable after the fact!! A little forwarning would hve saved me hours of arrgavation ... still unresolved. Does anyone have a link to where I can download something earlier than 4.0.

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Where did You find the refresh button?

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ml i am taking back what i said before about following the instructions above. i have been all over the site and like the others cannot find the 3.6 version anywhere. this is such bs what they are doing. i clicked on the buttons for helpful and not helpful and when clicking NOT helpful it registered as helpful. i am very upset about this cause i use my nortons toolbar for all of my logins and now i am unable to pay my bills get into any of my accounts, do anything. mozilla has just SCREWED ME! it really does not make sense to build an upgrade that doesn't support ALL of the add-ons the previous version did. now i know why they do not have a support phone number.

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andrea there isn't any links to an earlier version.

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tagged try one of these, the 2nd one takes u to the download page

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-older.html


it worked for me, I have the earlier version but my profile manager still does not work properly, on this I think I'm screwed...royally. Make sure you dont click on any of the other links displayed, its kinda tricky, you might end up downloading something you dont want, but it is there

fixed link as oldapps is not safe nor official and not needed.

Modified by James

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@Gr11zzly, I have the same problem as far as the toolbar goes. I'm actually pretty disappointed about the numerous problems I and others seem to be having (I personally only have the toolbar problem, but I'm seeing a lot of posts about problems since this upgrade). This version has been in beta long enough, this number of problems after that is pretty astonishing.

Modified by user243512

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